Purpose and Features
On 1 January 2019, the Government introduced the Public Transport Fare Subsidy Scheme to relieve the fare burden of commuters who travel on local public transport services for daily commuting and whose public transport expenses are relatively high. The Scheme is simple, easy to understand and operate. All commuters, regardless of their ages and income levels, are not required to submit any application for the Scheme.
At present, the Government would provide commuters with a subsidy amounting to one-third of their actual monthly public transport expenses in excess of a monthly threshold, subject to a maximum of $400 per month for each Octopus and each AlipayHK account (expenses paid with AlipayHK EasyGo QR code for the public transport services covered under the Scheme). Public transport expenses recorded separately under the AlipayHK account and Octopus cannot be combined for the calculation of subsidies. From 1 June 2025 onwards, the monthly threshold under the Scheme has been raised from $400 to $500, while the subsidy rate and the monthly subsidy cap remain unchanged.
Under the Scheme, the commuters can continue to benefit from various public transport fare concessions currently provided by the Government and public transport operators under different payment methods. Their actual public transport expenses paid under these fare concessions will be used in the calculation of the monthly subsidies.
